26 October 2015

Twelve years ago, a deaf and mute 11-year-old girl crossed the Indian border into Pakistan. On Monday, finally, she flew home to a warm and emotional welcome.

Wearing a red tunic, her head loosely covered with a matching scarf, the girl — now a 23-year-old woman who had been given the name Geeta — waved to the scores of people who had gathered at the New Delhi airport to greet her. She was carrying a big bouquet of flowers given to her by Indian officials. It was a rare happy moment between hostile neighbors whose officials are often indifferent to the lives of innocent civilians.